


Fool Me Twice

by RPGwrites



Series: Bad Things Happening Card [7]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Angst, Family Issues, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:54:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27423793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RPGwrites/pseuds/RPGwrites
Summary: Ellana Tevelyan always believed family was the most important thing until her father sent her to the Circle. Escaping with a group went from bad to worse. No one else to turn to she goes to her brother, but after all this time can she trust him?
Series: Bad Things Happening Card [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1831141
Comments: 4
Kudos: 4





	Fool Me Twice

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to Mellifluousmelody for beating!!
> 
> This is part is the bad things happening prompts: Rejection.

“You shouldn’t do this,” Marsilia whispered just as two apprentices walked by. “These people have never done an escape before.”

Ellana rolled her eyes. It’s been years since Marsilia talked to her. But after this she does? She didn’t understand why. 

“Well, how did your first escape go? I’m sure you weren’t perfect by nature.” Ellana threw in sarcasm where she could. And Marsilia caught it. 

“Look,” the other mage sighed, “I know I haven’t always been around. But I do care. And,” her eyes looked elsewhere as she got distracted by more people walking by. “If you do this you will be caught. None of them has any experience,” with each word her voice began to drop. As if she was worried someone might overhear them. 

Ellana stared at her, blinking as she decided. If she was honest with herself she was worried they'd get caught. Everyone had their jobs but was it enough? 

“So come with us,” she suggested. “You’ve done this before. You can help us.”

“Ellana,” it was the most serious Marsilia was in this conversation, “The fact that I know this tells me it’s not secretive.” Ellana frowned at her words. “Besides,” Marsilia continued, “If I’m caught escaping again I’ll be put to tranquil.”

That was every mage in the Circle worst nightmare. Nobody wanted that. “Alright,” she nodded.

“And I’ll say it again,” she said, “You shouldn’t do it either. The Circles have changed. They’ll look for any reason to put mages to tranquil. So don’t give them one.” 

But Ellana didn’t listen and she really wished she did. Maybe they could’ve avoided many lives lost and her being disappointed by her family yet again.

* * *

The plan worked. All that was needed was to destroy their phylacteries. It was Blaxton’s job. But everything didn’t go perfect. 

He was late. Different Templars guarded than they should have. And orders weren’t followed. 

“If we don’t get out of here in the next 10 minutes we can forget about it,” their leader said with a lot of disapproval. 

But then the worst happened. Just as they were out of the tower bells were ringing and Templars were swarming them. 

Ellana was a fast runner so that’s what she did. She ran and ran. She ran until she couldn’t anymore. 

And when she stopped. Trying her best to catch her breath. Ellana Trevelyan saw off from a distance that the rest was caught. 

She could hear the laughter from some of the Templars. Proud of themselves for having caught the mages. 

Ellana wanted to get to them. But fear stopped her. 

Marsilia was right. They shouldn’t have done this. What will happen to her fellow mages now?

* * *

From the town’s people, she heard gossip. She didn’t know how people found out there was an attempted escape. 

At first, she was thankful for the news. It meant she found out what happened to them. But when she did find out she wished she didn’t. 

Most were sent to be tranquil even if it was their first attempt at escaping. The younger ones went with a warning. 

Ellana wished it wasn’t true but a feeling crept in that told her otherwise. 

Weeks went by where she tried to get a job. But it usually didn’t work out. The one she successfully got had some Templars as customers and they figured out that she's a mage. 

So she had to run again. 

Sometimes at night, she had to sleep hungry. Clothes torned and heartbroken she had nowhere to go.

* * *

“Ellana?” her brother’s eyes looked questioningly at her. 

“Hello, Aldwin.” 

If there’s one person who will help her in the world it’s her brother. He looked different. More like he grew up than she saw him last. 

“How are you here?” He didn’t know if he should be happy or unhappy. And the look in his eyes made her mad. 

“I escaped,” she admitted. “I need help. I-”

But his eyes that shut interrupted her. As if she was some kind of nuisance. “Let’s go to the garden.”

The parts of the estate that Ellana saw were beautiful. She was sure he remarried. Part of her wanted to know what happened in his life. The other part was too afraid to ask. 

She was afraid to be disappointed by her family again. It would hurt more from her brother than it ever did from her father. 

He never wrote any letters to her. Does she even want to know the reason?

But Aldwin’s behaviour striked her as odd. He didn’t offer her tea. 

_ It’s almost like he wanted me away from the front door.  _

“Ellana you’re making things difficult.” And with just those words her heart shattered in a million pieces. “Why come here? You belong in the Circle.”

She gaped at her brother. It was worse than she expected. In fact, she didn’t know how to respond. How could she? Did he seriously ask her that?

But before she could speak a woman with firefly red hair appeared from nowhere. 

“Hi,” she went down to meet his lips. “Oh,” she said as she saw Ellana. “I didn’t know you had a guest.”

For a moment Ellana thought she might recognize her if she is her brother’s wife. Surely she must’ve seen portraits of her in the Trevelyan home. But her words just planted another knife deep in her heart. 

“Who might you be?”

Ellana couldn’t speak. Her words strangled her and she was choking. 

“She is here to discuss business,” Aldwin said and she wasn’t sure if she should be mad or happy. “Will you give us a moment Rose.”

“Sure,” she smiled and excused herself. 

With Rose leaving the words stopped choking her and she could speak. “She doesn’t know who I am.”

“Ellana…”

“Father really went that far to throw everything away of me. Even the portraits?” When she was disowned by her family she didn’t expect that. But she was foolish. 

“Ellana…”

“And you’re doing the same thing!” Her words were louder. She was mad but she didn’t know if it was at herself or her brother. She should’ve known better. 

“That’s not true,” he objected. 

“It isn’t?” She couldn’t dare to believe it. “Then why haven’t you wrote to me?”

“Father…”

“Don’t!” Ellana stopped him. “You’re out of that house. You can’t use that excuse. Not anymore.”

“Things have changed El. I can’t help you.” His expression changed into something she didn’t recognize. Her brother has changed too much. 

She stood up from her chair. “You can’t? Or you won’t? You know I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“El-”

“Don’t!” she warned. “I’m sorry for bothering you.”

And she left. 

* * *

Ellana had nowhere else to go anymore. She ran into Templars at times and was lucky to escape with a few scratches. 

One thing she promised herself was she wouldn’t let Templars catch her alive again. 

Later she found herself in a town called Val Gamord. It was peaceful. But of course it had it’s fair share of Templars. 

She had word that her sister Clarice was stationed there. Ellana didn’t know if she should risk it but she had nowhere else to go. 

The only person who she thought would help her rejected her. At that point she had nowhere else to go. 

She was hungry, lost, hopeless. And most of all Clarice didn’t agree with her father so she had hoped that she wouldn’t give her to her fellow Templars or throw her to the streets. 

So Ellana began to work. She talked to people that knew her sister. Learned a schedule and one night she stopped by her home. Waiting for her to come off from her shift. 

“Who in the void are you?” a Woman asked. Ellana would put all the coin she had to say it was Clarice. 

“Clarice Trevelyan?”

“Yes?” she confirmed still not being sure who Ellana is. “Why are you looking for me?”

“My name is Ellana Trevelyan.”

The Templar shut her eyes and mumbled a curse. “Shouldn’t you be in a Circle?”

* * *

“Thank you,” Ellana took the hot cup of tea gratefully. 

But Clarice looked at her sceptically. She hasn’t said much after Ellana told her who she is. She could see the images in her mind forming. Deciding what to do with her apostate sister.

“How did you know?” It would’ve been so much easier if her sister didn’t know she was a mage. 

Carice sat more forward in her seat, “Father wrote to me. He,” her eyes started to linger elsewhere. “Didn’t have the nicest things to say.”

But Ellana wasn’t surprised at all. She didn’t think her father would say anything nice about his daughter who is a mage. He hated mages. He believed all of them were evil. 

“Makes sense.” Ellana placed her tea cup on the table. “He didn’t want one of his children to be a mage.” She shrugged, “I can’t really blame him for that.”

Ellana tried to forgive him but no matter what she just couldn’t. To her it was unforgivable. 

“I’m sorry things happened as it did,” her sister apologized unnecessarily. She handled it like her magic was a bad thing to have happened to her. But that wasn’t the case. It took her a long time to accept her powers as a gift. 

“Don’t be.” She shifted in her seat to get the point why she was here. “Look I don’t want to put you in this position. But I have nowhere else to go. Will you help me?”

Carice let go of her big breath, “Alright.”

“Thank you.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t always there. Things just…” But she didn’t finish. Ellana expected she had her own history with their father.

“What happened between you and father?” Maybe it didn’t have anything to do with her. But she needed to know.

Her sister shook her head in response, “It doesn’t matter. It’s in the past.”

And Ellana let it go. 

* * *

The next morning at breakfast there was a suspicious knock on the door. Ellana raised her eyebrows at her sister. 

“I’ll get it.” She went up and turned the knob to open for their guests. But Ellana didn’t like what she heard. 

“She’s in here,” Clarice said. 

Immediately Ellana’s heart began to beat faster and faster as her brain told her there’s trouble. 

_ This is a trap.  _

Ellana knew it was a mistake coming here. Why did she come? In hope that her Templar sister would take pity on her?

Ellana Trevelyan made a very stupid mistake.

She looked around for a door to magically appear. She wished she could shapeshift then she could quickly escape. But at last, that wasn’t something the Circle taught. 

Heavy footsteps were coming her way and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about that. 

“I’m sorry Ellana,” Clarice said as her fellow Templars came into her view. “If you go with them you’ll be alright. I have their word.”

_ How could you? _ But the truth was that wasn’t something she could ask her older sister. 

She wasn’t around when Ellana was a kid. At least not like Aldwin was. 

When she thought about him his betrayal hurt all over again. If he would have just helped her she wouldn’t be in this drama. 

Ellana was truly alone. There was no one in the world she could trust. She was foolish to try. 

“That’s not going to happen.”

Clarice looked disappointed in her words. “I’m doing this for you. I’m trying to help you. Mages belong in the Circle.”

Ellana chuckled darkly, “You do not know what happens in the Circle. They will look for any reason to put mages to tranquil. What’s stopping them from doing it to me?”

“Have you escaped before? Have you used blood magic?” Clarice ticked the list. Sentence by sentence. It was why they usually would turn a mage tranquil. But times have changed. “If not, then you’ll be alright.”

But Clarice was wrong. 

“I will fight until I can’t anymore. I’m not going.”

“You heard her!” One of the Templars said while he drew his sword. The steel sounded sharp. 

And Ellana gulped while fear settled in. She didn’t know if she'd be able to win this fight. But she’ll give her best shot. 

* * *

Steel surrounded her as she got a hold of her magic. Even her sister got her steel out. She didn’t know where she kept it this entire time. 

First, she built an ice wall to protect herself. But of course, that wouldn’t stop all of them. 

She blocked where she could. Ellana couldn’t catch her breath. If she did they would cut her down. And she wouldn’t go without a fight. 

But just as she blocked again her shoulder was burning. When she looked she realized someone’s blade met her flesh. It was throbbing.

Ellana’s attention wasn’t at the battle anymore and when she saw again a pommel of a sword was coming for her face. 

And that’s the last thing she remembered.

* * *

"What in the void did you just do?" One of the Templars asked. "She would have killed us if she could." 

Almost every other Templar gave her unwanted looks. 

Clarice knocked Ellana out before she could've gotten herself killed. And her fellow Templars' reactions were uncalled for. It was strange.They sounded if they wanted to cut her down. 

Shouldn't they save mages when they could?

"She only attacked because she was afraid." Clarice sure hoped she was correct. Ellana was acting strange. As if the Templars were the enemy. 

“That’s why we told you to stay away from your house. We would’ve handled it.” Another Templar said. 

If she was honest with herself she was thankful she didn’t. Who knows what would’ve happened then. 

Her eyes lingered on blood coming from her sister’s shoulder. “We should patch her up and go to the Knight-Commander.”

“Patch her up,” another one snorted. “She did this to herself!”

“Nonetheless,” Clarice said, “It’s our duty.”

* * *

“Trevelyan,” the Knight-Commander said as she held attention. “Sit please,” she showed her hand to the chair.”

“Knight-Commander,” she gave a little bow. 

“I hear you got your sister captured. Good work!”

She hated being praised like that. As if she did the most horrifying thing in the world. 

“Yes,” Clarice confirmed,” She’s currently in the infirmary to get her shoulder checked. The healer is treating her.”

“Good,” the Knight-Commander nodded in approval. “She will be taken back to the Ostick Circle.”

This is where she got nervous. Ellana refused arrest and assaulted Templars. That couldn’t go well for her. 

“Knight-Commander,” she started, “You know I always do my job well-”

“Cut the pleasantries Trevelyan.” She saw right through her, “Tell me what you want.”

“I want the Ostick Circle to go easy on her,” she said. The words floated fast. She needed to say this. She was never there for Ellana and it was the least she could do. 

The Knight-Commander lifted an eyebrow in response, “That’s for their Knight-Commander to decide.”

“Please Knight-Commander.” Since when did Clarice started to beg? “She’s my sister. She was only scared.”

“Alright,” she sighed, “I will write a letter of recommendation but only,” a finger was lifted, “Because you and your family do so much for the Templars.”

“I also want to come with them,” the second request came. 

The Knight-Commander narrowed her eyes. “No, you’re too involved in this.”

“I wouldn’t ask if this isn’t important. I wasn’t there when she grew up. Just let me make it right. I just want to make sure she’s alright and say goodbye.”

_ Ellana probably hates me.  _

The Knight-Commander stared at her and it felt like she could read her mind. “Alright. But no more favours after this.”

She smiled, “Thank you Knight-Commander.”

* * *

Ellana groaned as she woke up. Immediately she heard steel. 

She was wide awake. 

“Hush child,” an old woman said to the Templar. “She’s only waking up.”

The Templar only grunted in response. 

“What happened?” She moved her arm but her shoulder protested in response and she winced. 

“Take it easy dear,” the old woman said. 

“Leave her,” the Templar said in response, “She’s the one picking fights with Templars.”

That’s when she remembered what happened. Arriving at her sister’s door. Staying overnight. Templars in the morning. She groaned in response. 

Ellana rubbed her eyes with the hand that had the good arm. “What will happen to me?”

She was spiraling with questions. She knew the obvious. They’d take her to a Circle. But will she be punished? Will she be put to tranquil?

“You will travel back to the Ostick Circle, dear,” the old woman said. “But where are my manners? My name is Fina. I’m a healer.”

Ellana smiled. The healer was kind. Kinder than any Templar she’d seen. “Thank you for taking care after my injuries.”

“You’ll be fine dear. Just rest up. I’ll get the potion you need to drink.”

* * *

2 days later they were travelling. Ellana was on her own horse, something she was thankful for.

Luckily her sister knew what was good for her and stayed far away from her.

But slowly but surely she started to feel awful. 

It started small. Around her wound she started to itch. The healer even said she had a rash and needed something to take for it. But it only got worse. 

She started to feel sick. Ellana thought she might have a fever but she shoved that feeling aside. 

It’s nothing. 

“Child are you alright?” Fina asked her in concern. 

She didn’t know how she knew something was wrong but she shook her head. Denying it. But she couldn’t for long. 

Ellana was getting more and more sleepy. Her throat started to feel funny. As if it was getting double it’s size and that’s when she started to have trouble breathing. 

She stopped her horse trying to catch her breath. 

Clarice and Fina were immediately at her side. “What’s wrong?”

They were spinning and she couldn’t tell who spoke. “I…” She tried to say between raspy breaths. “Can’t… I can’t..” Instead she showed to her throat. 

‘Something is wrong!” Clarice said. 

Between breaths Ellana spoke again,” I..don’t… feel so… good.” 

And she fell down her horse. 

The last thing she remembered before blacking out was Clarice yelling her name in panic.

* * *

Clarice was worried. 

She knew something was wrong. In her bones, a feeling crept. Ellana’s horse didn’t walk as straight as it once did. 

Her responses got slower and slower. 

Clarice was pacing next to the infirmary tent. It was the only thing she could do not to lose her mind. 

When the flap of the tent opened her gaze went to it immediately. Fina came out looking tired and weary all the same. But she couldn’t guess what the news was looking at her impression. 

Clarice froze, not being sure what news to expect. 

“Ellana had an allergic reaction towards one of the herbs,” the healer started to say, “She’ll be fine. In a day or two, we can move on again.”

She let out a breath of relief. Being thankful that it wasn’t more serious. “Thank you.”

“She’s awake if you want to see her.”

Clarice sighed, “I’m not sure if she would want to. She hates me.”

But Fina gave a wise smile, “What you did was for her. She sees it as a betrayal but if you never try she’ll never forgive you.”

The healer spoke wise words.

* * *

Ellana was feeling better. Her fever was high but at least she could breathe normally again. She was tired. All that she wanted to do was close her eyes and sleep. 

That went out of the window when her sister arrived at her tent. 

“Hey,” Clarice started, “How are you feeling?”

Ellana narrowed her eyes, not being sure what to make of it. “Clarice just go. Or will you send one of your Templars if I don’t want to talk?”

Clarice was shocked. Whatever she expected her to say wasn’t that. “I know you think I don’t care, but I do. Maybe one day you’ll see it.”

But Ellana didn’t know if she could. Her trust was broken forever.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to come and say hi on [ Tumblr ](https://rpgwrites.tumblr.com/).


End file.
